A Call For Help
by JosieRose
Summary: Rose and the Doctor recieve a mysterious call through time from a girl chased by strange creatures. She begs them for help. And this is their story.
1. Chapter One: The Beginning

_**Chapter One: The Beginning**_

From outside the TARDIS, Rose could hear the Doctor fumbling with his key. He must either be in a hurry, or he was excited about something. She walked over and opened the door for him. "And what have you been up to now?"

"Well, Roes, I just found where we should go next. It's just such a fantastic idea that I can't seem to hold still." He was right about one thing. The Doctor was at this moment practically running from one set of controls to another, jumping here and there because he was so excited.

"Would you mind sharing your plan, if it's such a great idea."

"Not at all, Rose. You see, for centuries people have been fighting about the origin of the Earth. Now what I'm going to do is set the TARDIS to go back to the very beginning and see what really happened." That same old smile covered his features, and Rose couldn't help but smile as well, even though something told her this was not a good idea at all.

The whirring of the TARDIS always seemed to get louder when traveling back in time. Rose had noticed this on several occasions, along with the fact that going back in time seemed a lot harder for the TARDIS than traveling forward.

"Doctor, how are we going to be able to see the creation of the universe if the TARDIS has no windows?"

"Oh, don't doubt me, Rose," the doctor said as the TARDIS finally ceased its whirring noises. "Follow me. It's just down the hall, to the left, third door, up the stairs, to the right, behind the bookshelf, to the left, along the balcony, through the door, and then six doors down."

Rose never quite understood why everything was so hard to get to in the TARDIS. Her second trip with the Doctor, he had sent her to get changed and it had taken her several minutes to find the room with the change of clothes. But she supposed that that was how things had to be in a teleporting time machine.

So she followed the Doctor and his crazy directions to a small observation deck. Outside the glass, all that met her eyes was darkness. Nothing else. The Doctor seemed a bit confused. "What's this? I thought I timed it perfectly." He looked at his watch. "Maybe it's behind us. Come along, Rose." With that, he took Rose by the hand and all but dragged her on another crazy path with several rights, a few lefts, a set of spiral stairs, multiple doors, sliding walls, and a fireman's pole. How all of this worked, Rose had no idea. All she knew was that she was thoroughly lost now, and she tightened her grip on the Doctor's hand.

They burst through a door into a circular room with a glass dome ceiling. Everything was still complete darkness and nothing else. The Doctor seemed a little annoyed with himself over something. He was about to leave again when Rose stopped him. "Doctor! Look!" Something was out there in the sky now.

The Doctor's eyes lit up and his smile once again returned, dominating over the rest of his features. "Fantastic!"

Back in the control room of the TARDIS, Rose practically fell down onto one of the couches near the consol. She had just seen the beginning of the universe, and it wasn't at all like she had been taught in school. The feeling she felt was similar to the one she felt when the Doctor had taken her to the end of the Earth. She didn't quite know how to describe the heavy weight she felt in her chest.

"Fantastic! That's what that was, Rose. It was fantastic! The beginning of the universe. And we got to see it in person." Here, the Doctor noticed that Rose was not in the most chipper mood for some reason. He sometimes forgot that she wasn't a timelord and things involving Earth were personal to her. He sat down next to Rose on the couch and slipped an arm around her shoulders.

"You know, Rose…" he paused. What should he say? Was there anything he should say? He decided that, at this moment, it was probably not the best idea to say anything. And in this respect, he was right.

Rose turned to him and put her arms around him in a hug. All she wanted right now was a big hug, to which the Doctor had no objections.

Rose's cell phone began to chirp in her pocket. She released the Doctor. This was odd. No one had ever attempted to contact her after she had left with the Doctor. Her mum and Mickey both knew that she was moderately safe with the Doctor ant that she would return when she could. So who could this be? The number on the caller idea was one she didn't recognize. It must have been a wrong number or something like that. She hung up and turned back to the Doctor.

"I'm sorry. I don't know who that was."

The Doctor looked at the phone curiously. "Let me see that." Rose handed him the phone without argue. He looked at the number. _1-836-774-9094. _Something about this number seemed familiar. But what could it be? The phone began to chirp again in the Doctor's hand. Tentatively, he answered the call. "Hello, this is the Doctor speaking."

The voice on the other end of the line was feminine and panicked. "Help, I need help. Anyone. I need your help. There are creatures. I don't know what they are. But they're after me. Please help me. Oh, God! Here they come!" There was a thud, and the voice was gone. In the background noise of the ongoing call, the Doctor could hear something smashing through sticks as though it were in a forest of some sort. Heavy animal like breathing came across the line, and then the call went dead.

"Rose…I think someone is in trouble."

"Who?"

"I don't know. But she was begging for help."


	2. Chapter Two: Gina

**_Chapter Two: Gina_**

_Three Hours earlier. _

Gina Mitchell, age seventeen from Mountain Home, Alabama, was getting ready to go out with her boyfriend to a bonfire out by a friend's house. She didn't really feel like heading to a bonfire on her seventeenth birthday, especially since it was her golden birthday. But, as Dylan had pointed out to her, it was summer, and her friends would want to wish her a happy birthday too. So here she was, preparing to go to a bonfire on June 17th…her birthday.

Gina wasn't even sure she knew this friend of Dylan's who was having the bonfire. For that matter, she didn't think she had ever heard the name before, even at school. Oh, well. If Dylan was taking her, it should be okay. He was a great boy, and anything okay with him should be fine…. Or so she thought. In all reality, there was no bonfire. For that matter, the friend whom Dylan had said was hosting the bonfire didn't even exist. None of what he had told Gina was the truth, and he only had one thing on his mind.

Dylan showed up at Gina's house right at 8:30pm to pick her up for the "bonfire." Gina came out, hopped in the car, and they were off to the West woods. Little did Dylan know that they wouldn't be as alone as he wanted that night.

"Dylan, what are we doing here? This doesn't look like a bonfire. There aren't even any other cars out here. What's going on?"

"Happy Birthday, Gina." Dylan moved closer reaching for his girlfriend. Luckily for Gina, the car door was unlocked. She pulled the handle and tumbled out backwards onto the ground. In a second, she was on her feet and backing away.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Dylan just smiled and climbed out her car door after her. He liked her when she was mad. Gina saw his smile.

_Oh this is NOT happening_, she thought. Turning towards the trees of the forest, she began running. _So this is how I'm celebrating my golden birthday, running from my boyfriend in a dark forest. Great! _

Gina was running, but Dylan was slightly faster than she was. He was gaining, soon he would catch her. But she couldn't give up. She pushed herself harder, but it wasn't enough. Dylan was on her in a minute. He managed to snag her arm and whip her around to face him. He pressed her against a nearby tree and tried to kiss her. But Gina was having none of this. She thrashed and struck out as much as she could, but to no avail. Her jacket was already being discarded on the forest floor. _Oh, God, help me!_

As if in an answer to her prayer, bright lights suddenly filled the forest behind Dylan. He turned, expecting to see a farmer's pick-up truck or some other car. But that was not the sight that met his unsuspecting eyes. A large shining metal sphere was floating not ten feet away from the struggling couple.

Dylan's grip on Gina's arms loosened, and she took her chance to pull away. She started to run again, but Dylan was too mesmerized by the odd ship to notice. When Gina pulled up behind some bushes to look back, she saw an oval shaped section of the sphere begin to move away creating a door. Through this door stepped an ugly, yet intriguing, beast. The head was that of a ram, but the body was a mix of a goat and some sort of hairy monkey creature. The chest was covered with some sort of golden body armor and in the creatures hand was an odd looking silver rod with a red stripe at one end.

Gina almost walked back into the clearing in order to better see what was going on. But just at that moment, Dylan said something to the creature that Gina couldn't hear. The monkey-goat raised the silver rod, and a beam of green light shot from the tip, engulfing Dylan's body. In the next instant, Dylan was gone. Nothing was left where he had been standing except for Gina's jacket that had been discarded near his feet. A shocked gasp managed to pry itself from Gina's lips. The creature turned towards the bush, raising the rod again. In an instant, the bush was gone and Gina was left out in the open. _Now would be a good time to run, Gina._

She turned and took off into the night. Behind her, she could hear the creature grunting something. Its grunts were soon joined by others. _Great, there's more of them._ She poured on the speed. Rounding a tree her hand hit happened to brush her hip pocket where she kept her cell phone. A light bulb seemed to go off in her head, and she whipped out the little blue phone. Her mind was in such a panic that she didn't know what she was doing. She started hitting random numbers, hoping one would work.

A ring. She had reached someone. She brought the phone up to her ear as she ran. The ringing continued. _Come on, please pick up!_ Crashing sounds started to follow her trail. She risked a look behind her. Three of the monkey-goats were entering the forest. She turned back forward and listened. The ringing cut out. Someone had hung up. _No! Not now!_

Up ahead of her, she could see a small cave. She made a b-line for it. Once inside, she presses the call button again, trying to get that number again. This time a man picks up on the other end of the line. "Hello, this is the Doctor speaking."

Her words came out in a rush. "Help, I need help! Anyone! I need your help! There are creatures." She tried to control her panicking voice, but it didn't work. "I don't know what they are. But they're after me. Please help me." She looked up in time to see the monkey-goats come around a ledge. "Oh, God! Here they come!" Dropping the phone, she scrambled to her feet and took off running again. She had no idea who she had called, or where they were. But, right now, she didn't care. All she wanted was help.

Out of nowhere, a branch appeared across her path. She had no time to react. Her body ran full force into the limb and she was thrown back onto the ground unconscious.

Back at the cave, the three creatures were searching for the pale female that had been in this small outcrop of rocks. They could smell her scent amongst the dried twigs and other plants on the ground. The largest of the three found the blue phone near the entrance. The screen was lit and something was breathing on the other side. The big monkey-goat didn't seem to care he crushed the phone with a single fist. Now to find that female creature.


	3. Chapter Three: The Rescue

**_Chapter Three: The Rescue_**

At the controls, the Doctor was rushing around like a madman. "Come on. Come on! Work!" His ever present smile was gone now, replaced by a grim look of determination. Someone was in trouble and needed his help. "Rose, could you push that?" Rose hurried to help. She didn't know why the Doctor was acting quite like this, but she knew it meant the really had to hurry, even though this was a time machine.

The TARDIS gave its old familiar whirring noise and began shaking. Then it was all still. The Doctor was at the door in seconds and had it open. Outside was a dark forest. How large it was, they didn't know. Rose wasn't even exactly sure where it was for that matter. But the Doctor plunged right out into the midst of it anyway. Rose ran after him.

The air hitting the Doctor's face was cool as he ran amongst the trees. He had to find the girl. She was out here, somewhere. He had brought the TARDIS to the exact time when the call was being made. This way he had a better chance of helping.

Suddenly, he came upon a cliff. He would have fallen off the side had Rose not been there to grab his jacket and pull him back. "Thanks," he said with a slight smile. His gaze was then pulled over the cliff face. A girl had just come running out of a cave down below them. There she was. "Come on, Rose," the Doctor called over his shoulder.

They made their way down to the forest floor in time to see a group of monkey-goat-like creatures emerging from the cave the girl had been in. The beasts were sniffing the air, tracking her. Somewhere off to the Doctor's right, he heard a crash and a thud. The girl must have hit something in her blind panic. He didn't bother to stay and find out about the creatures. That would come later. He practically dived into the brush and trees to his right and ran towards where he had heard the noise.

Not too much farther away, the form of a teenage girl lay strewn on the ground. A gash across her forehead told the Doctor she had run into the low, overhanging branch. Crashing noises were coming closer through the woods. No time to worry about proper first-aid now. The Doctor scooped the girl up into his arms, turned to Rose, and began running back the way they had come. The animals would be tracking her scent, but if they could get to the TARDIS, they could teleport somewhere else in the woods and not worry about leaving a scent trail.

Going back up the cliff was the hardest part. With every step, loose sticks and rocks went skidding and sliding back down the steep hill they were going up. The trek would have been hard enough without the added weight of the limp girl in the Doctor's arms, but they were running for all of their lives now.

An unsuspecting rock under the Doctor's foot decided to give way, causing both the Doctor and the girl to fall to the ground. Looking back down the hill, the Doctor could see the creatures were beginning their accent. Hopefully the steepness of the hill would slow them down.

Suddenly, one of the creatures down bellow raised a silver rod. The Doctor's eyes widened in automatic recognition of the deadly weapon; he knew what that was. He grabbed the girl and rolled out of the way just as a beam of green light hit the spot they had just been laying on the side of the hill. Maybe he better start running again.

The Doctor picked up the girl again and ran up the side of the hill again with renewed energy. At the top, Rose was waiting for them. Together they ran for the TARDIS. "Rose, go on ahead, unlock the door." She did as she was told, pushing herself faster.

Once inside the TARDIS, Rose stood by the door, holding it open and waiting for the Doctor. She was beginning to see the tops of the creatures' heads over the hill. "Doctor! Run!"

The Doctor risked a glance behind. His feet found a new urgency in their movements and he was soon inside the doors of the TARDIS. But they weren't safe yet. Passing the girl's body off to Rose, he said, "Here, see to her. We have to get out of here before they disintegrate the TARDIS."

While the Doctor pushed, pulled, spun, and hit the controls to get the TARDIS moving, Rose laid the poor girl out on one of the couches. From what Rose knew of first-aid and hitting one's head, the girl must have a concussion. She would live, but Rose had to keep her warm and take care of that nasty cut on the girl's forehead.

Rose ran off down the hall of the TARDIS. Through the second door on the right, up two flights of stairs, down the right corridor, through the ninth door, and back down a set of stairs was the medical room. She grabbed one of the first aid kits and a couple blankets. Rose was about to leave the room when she heard the TARDIS begin to give its familiar whir. She breathed a sigh of relief. They weren't going to be disintegrated. She remembered the poor girl lying on the couch down in the main room, and Rose began to run back, retracing her many steps through the maze of passages and stairs.

The girl was right where Rose had left her on the couch. The Doctor was by her side. His sonic screwdriver was in his hand, and he was checking to see what exactly was wrong. "Slight concussion to the head; probably due to hitting the branch and falling to the ground. Cut on her forehead; not deep. A few other minor scrapes on her arms and legs." Here he looked up at Rose. "I think it's safe to say she'll live." His wide smile was back.

Rose handed him the blanket and the first-aid kit. The Doctor took them. He wrapped the blanket around the girl's body and began to clean the cut on her forehead. She jumped when he put the alcohol on it. Her eyes flew wide open. "Where am I? Who are you?"

The Doctor smiled down at her with the medical gauze and tape in his hands. "I'm the Doctor. We got your call and came to help. You seemed to have hit your head on a branch, but you should be alright, Miss…" The trailing off of his voice seemed to ask her name.

"Gina. Gina Mitchell," the girl said, slightly frustrated. "Doctor? Doctor who?"

"Just the Doctor."

"You get used to it after a while," Rose added. "I'm Rose," she added with a smile down at Gina.

The Doctor moved in to put the gauze over the cut on Gina's forehead. "Okay…so you're the Doctor, and you're Rose…. But where am I?"

"Oh, yes," the Doctor said as he finished taping down the gauze pad. Opening his arms as if to present the entire room, he proudly stated, "This is the TARDIS."


	4. Chapter Four: What Is It?

**_Chapter Four: What Is It?_**

After scaring the Gina out of her wits, the Doctor left her on the couch with Rose to go and fiddle with the controls of the TARDIS. Rose took his seat on the couch next to Gina. "So what happened? Why were they chasing you?"

"I don't know, exactly," Gina answered, trying to recall the events of the night. "I remember I had been with my boyfriend. He said we were going to a bonfire, but then he took me into the woods instead…. I was running from him. But he caught me. Then…there was a light. A bright light. It was coming from a silver sphere…." Here everything seemed to blur a little bit in Gina's mind. "I pulled away from Dylan and started to run away again…. I turned to look back and…. Oh God! They killed him!" The tears started to cascade down her cheeks. _He lied to me and was trying to…but now he's dead. He's gone!_

Arms draped around Gina's shoulders. She turned into the body that embraced her. She didn't know what else to do. One of the hands wrapped around Gina's shoulders started to stroke her hair. Back before her mother had died, Gina's mom had done that whenever Gina had had a bad day. The thought of her mother only brought more tears to her eyes.

"Gina." It was the Doctor's voice. "Could you come over here? We need to find out what exactly these aliens are in order to figure out what they are doing here."

"Can't you see this isn't the best time? Do you mind?" Gina was thankful for Rose's intervention.

Gina lifted her head to see Rose's face smiling down her. There was genuine concern in her eyes. "No, no. It's alright. I'm okay. Thank you, Rose. I'm alright now. "

They disentangled themselves from their embrace and stood to walk over to the consol. Looking around the inside of the TARDIS, Gina had the strange feeling she was inside a type of mushroom. She had no idea where this thought came from, but that's what the inside of this time traveling, teleporting ship reminded her of.

"So where are we now anyways?"

"Exactly one mile away from where we were last night. Now please, Gina, try and focus. What can you remember about the creatures last night? Anything at all?"

"They had a ram's head. And their bodies were a mix of a goat and a monkey sort of thing."

"Narrows it down." The Doctor looked as though he was sifting through millions of files in his head.

"They are hairy and ride in a silver sphere… and they have these metal rods that…disintegrate things…." Her voice trailed off. Another tear began to form. She blinked it away. There would be time for that later. "They grunt when they talk. And they have an amazing sense of smell for tracking."

"Fantastic memory, Gina. That narrows it down to a handful of planets in the seventeenth system. Is there anything else you remember? Even the smallest thing?"

Gina scrunched up her face in concentration, trying to clear up the blurry fog that made up her memory. "Well," She hesitated. "The silver rods had a red band around the top. And the door to the ship was oval shaped. When it opened, a cloud of mist came out before the creatures did…"

"That's it!" The Doctor smiled and practically bounced over to a computer screen and started pressing buttons again. The screen flickered and then went black again. "Oh come on!" The Doctor hit the side of the monitor, and it came to life. "There's your alien: the Mantican. Not very often do you see one of those out and away from their planet…. Come to think of it, the last time I saw one, it was in search of new slaves for their factories…"


	5. Chapter Five: Confrontation

**_Chapter Five: Confrontation _**

"Hold on." The Doctor gave the smallest warning possible before he began prepping the TARDIS.

"To what?" Gina had no idea what was going on, or what she should be doing for that matter. Rose took her hand. _At least I have Rose here. I don't think I would fare very well if it wasn't for her. _

The TARDIS began its whirring sounds. Gina looked around at the inside of the ship again. _Where is that coming from? I swear I have heard that before…_ She didn't have much time to think about this before the noises stopped and the Doctor was motioning for them to exit the TARDIS.

"So what are we doing," Rose asked. "And where are we now?"

"We," the Doctor said with certainty, "Are confronting the Manticans as to the nature of their presence here on Earth." With that, he exited the TARDIS.

Outside was the clearing where Gina had first seen the Mantican ship the night before. Her jacket was still strewn on the ground at the base of a tree. Her steps were hesitant as she stepped out of the TARDIS. _What am I doing? These things disintegrated my boyfriend. He was a crappy boyfriend, but still._ Their paths lead by the place where Dylan had stood before he was disintegrated. Gina sank to her knees. She felt the sting of tears touch her eyes. _Not here. Not again. _Rose was down by her side with an arm around Gina's shoulders.

"Are you okay?"

"It was here… He was right here when…." Gina's voice trailed off. A tear managed to slide down her cheek. He wasn't the best boyfriend, but they had been together so long, Gina found it hard not to grieve for him.

Rose's hand gave Gina's shoulder a reassuring squeeze._ I can do this._ Gina took a deep breath, held it for a moment, and then released it. She lifted her head. _I can do this._ She stood up. Rose braced her arm around Gina's shoulders in case she fell again.

The Doctor stood before them, watching. "Are you ready?" He took the determined look on Gina's face as an affirmative answer to his question. "Fantastic." With that one word, he turned and began scanning the alien ship with his Sonic Screwdriver. The door slid open, "Here we go," said the Doctor with a broad smile.

As he was about to step inside the ship, a Mantican came around a bend in the ship's corridor. What should have sounded like an animal-like grunt to Gina's ears instead sounded like perfect English. "Intruders! Balazmath! Balanthen!"

"I…I can understand him. How is that possible? I couldn't understand them before. Why can they speak English now," Gina wondered aloud.

"It's the gift of the TARDIS. I think it might be better if I explain later and worry about the Mantican's right now."

"Oh…right."

The other two beasts had joined the first in the corridor by now. They seemed unarmed at the moment, so the Doctor attempted to reason with them. "Hello. I'm the Doctor. I've come here to help. Are you lost? Are you looking for something in particular? Or just admiring the scenery?"

The largest of the three creatures snorted, "What do you know of the Mantican race, puny alien? We do not get lost. We know exactly where we are and what we are doing at all times. Do not insult us!" The other two seemed to bounce and grunt in agreement with their leader.

"Now, I think you misunderstand me. I did not mean any insults. I just…" The Doctor was cut off by the gruff voice of the smallest of the three Mantican's.

"Do you think we will fall for your alien tricks? Our race has met with your kind before, Timelord." The last word was practically spat out in the Doctor's direction as if it were meant to shoot across the ship and kill him where he stood.

"What do you want, Mantican?"

"What do we want? We need new slaves for the good of the Powerful One and the entire Mantican Race."


End file.
